Bradford City 2

Huddersfield Town 0

City would love to play Yorkshire derbies every week.

Just like Roy Wood wishing that it could be Christmas every day, Colin Todd's white-rose wizards would relish facing the neighbours each Saturday.

"Have we got any more?" Todd inquired as he reflected on City's seventh inter-county win which maintained their undisputed supremacy in the Tykes table.

But as satisfying as a league double over neighbours Huddersfield feels - and it's a glow City have not felt since 1922 - this result was worth far much more than local pride.

More importantly, it has kept their season alive.

City are still five points adrift of the final play-off berth but at least they are still up and running. With ten games to go, a top-six finish remains a reachable target.

Suddenly Saturday's trip to second-from-bottom Peterborough has real purpose for both teams.

Todd has been bullishly positive throughout but here was clear evidence to back up his convictions. "I've told the players that we're back in it right among that pack behind the play-off positions," he said. "I know a lot of people have written us off because we've drawn a lot of home games. But credit to them, we set out our stall and it's very pleasing to get a home win in a derby."

Then again, a home win against anyone would have done. Being against Huddersfield was just a big bonus for the fans.

At the 11th time of asking, City registered their long-awaited sixth Valley Parade victory of the season. In doing so, they avoided setting a new club record for the wrong reasons.

Almost as rare as a home win was the source of the first goal - the left wing.

Yes, you read that right, for once it was not provided by Nicky Summerbee. The cross came from the OTHER side.

Marc Bridge-Wilkinson showed in glimpses at Walsall that he was a class act. And with a week's training with his new team-mates behind him that really shone through on Saturday.

Especially in the 44th minute when he picked up Peter Atherton's long pass, breezed past right back Andy Holdsworth as if he wasn't there and drilled in a low cross which was whipped home by Andy Cooke.

Huddersfield felt particularly hard done by because they felt Cooke had caught Nathan Clarke two minutes earlier while back defending his own goal at a free-kick. The Town centre half fell to the ground after an aerial challenge with Paul Henderson and claimed the City striker, who had already been yellow-carded, had trodden on him.

"He fell over himself and I was just trying to get out of his way," said Cooke dismissively. "They were just getting a bit annoyed."

Even more annoyed when the impressive Cooke promptly swept home his third goal as a Bantam.

It was a clinical finish and a real lesson to Huddersfield front pair Pawel Abbott and Delroy Facey, who both had decent sights of goal with the game still scoreless.

Abbott had the best of them after seven minutes after Henderson scuffed his clearance from David Wetherall's back-pass. But the under-hit shot was not what you expect from someone who has already clocked up 21 goals this term.

In the typical frenzy of a local derby, where good openings were always going to be few and far between, you cannot afford to waste the glorious ones.

"Bradford created three chances and we got punished by two of them," groaned Peter Jackson, who not surprisingly became the focal point for the home fans as they savoured victory over their biggest League One rivals.

The Huddersfield boss could point to injuries to Nathan Clarke, Michael Collins and David Mirfin unsettling his plans as the game unfolded. But his young Terriers, with an average age of just 21, were generally out-thought and out-maneouvred by their hosts, whose starting line-up worked out man for man seven years older.

City were also whipped up by a season's best home crowd of 15,417. They created the biggest atmosphere at Valley Parade since the Sheffield Wednesday game in October - and guess who won that one, too?

It's not rocket science that teams perform better with that sort of backing behind them. Why else are City such a force in Yorkshire derbies?

You just wonder how the last few months might have panned out if a few more armchair supporters had turned out for the less glamorous home games - and created the sort of noise which so obviously inspired the players on Saturday.

The volume shot through the roof when City doubled their lead nine minutes after the break.

Cooke this time turned provider by flicking a throw-in towards Dean Windass on the edge of the Huddersfield box. City's top scorer still had plenty to do but twisted one way then the other to engineer enough room to peel off a shot.

Paul Rachubka managed to block but Windass enjoyed a large slice of luck as the rebound cannoned off him and back past the keeper before crossing the line via the near post. Summerbee made sure by whacking it home from point-blank range but the ball had already gone in for Deano's 19th of the season.

City's last two two-goal leads, against Torquay and Barnsley, were both squandered. But not this time.

Huddersfield produced a brief flurry but Steve Schumacher showed the home team's intent not to budge an inch with an outstanding block as Jon Worthington prepared to pull the trigger.

The wintry weather took on freakish proportions with torrential rain turning to sideways sleet as the blustery wind continued to create havoc. But Huddersfield's storm had blown

itself out and City survived with comparative comfort.

The fans taunted "easy, easy" although it was never quite that simple. But they were determined to lap up the moment.

"It's nice to be in a stadium where we've had 15,000 fans," said Todd.